Allgood gets best of former team at Wells Fargo Center

Philadelphia – Justin Allgood was returning to his former home. He had a short-lived stint with the Philadelphia Soul earlier this season.

But he was traded away last month.

Allgood helped his Tulsa Talons team over the Philadelphia Soul last night. The Talons beat the Soul, 48-42, at the Wells Fargo Center.

Football

The Soul dropped to 5-9 on the season. On the other hand, the Talons improved to 6-7.

The Soul had a chance to win the game in the final 30 seconds. But the play blew up on them.

After Talons kicker Juan Bongarra had a field goal blocked, the Soul received the ball back. Shortly thereafter, Ryan Vena received the ball from newly-acquired center Robbie Powell.

After the ball was snapped, Vena doesn’t receive the snap. No Soul player attempts to find the ball outside of Vena.

When Vena attempts to get the ball, he was tackled by a Talons player. That opens up the opportunity for several Talons to go after the ball and eventually recover it.

Once the Talons recovered the ball, Allgood ran out the clock by throwing two passes into the stands.

Allgood struggled in his time in Philadelphia. In his shot with the Soul, he never seemed like he was comfortable.

But he was very comfortable with the Talons against the Soul. Allgood had 6 touchdowns on the night.

Allgood hit Troy McBroom three times. He also hit Al Hunt for two additional touchdowns.

Brandon Copeland also caught a touchdown from Allgood.

While the Talons may have found their quarterback – in their quarterback from the past – the Soul continues to struggle in finding a No. 1 guy. Brandon Kirsch started the game, and then was benched in the second half.

Kirsch had two touchdowns in the first half. Both touchdowns were to Mike Brown.

Brown started at wide receiver in place of Donovan Morgan. Morgan did not play in the game. Brown did not play his normal defensive assignment in the game, because he was focusing on his new wide receiver duties.

“I thought the receivers did a great job,” said coach Hohensee. “I thought Sy (Syvelle Newton) did a good job stepping up. He did a good job playing Donovan (Morgan’s) role. (Keith) Stokes had to move into Newton’s position. And Mike Brown had to come in and play Stokes and (Larry) Brackins position on offense. I thought he did a great job.”

In between those two touchdowns to Brown, Kirsch struggled. He threw three interceptions.

“It was tough coming back,” said Kirsch. “Those decisions did not put the team in the best position to win.”

Kirsch threw two interceptions to J.C. Neal. After returning the first interception for a short yardage play, Neal took the second interception to the end zone.

“It was tough for Brandon, because at times, he looked very good,” said Soul head coach Mike Hohensee. “Then at other times, we were saying ‘no, no, no.’ You have to learn from the other guy, hopefully. He was just making mistakes, and I felt like the game was close enough that we needed to put Ryan (Vena) back in there. He’s comfortable with the system and comfortable with the players out there. We had to mix up the receivers a lot.”

Neal had 65 return yards on those two interceptions. Darien Williams had an interception for just one yard.

Vena did not throw an interception after coming in for Kirsch. He came in for Kirsch after halftime.

After coming in, Vena threw four touchdowns. All four of Vena’s touchdowns came to Syvelle Newton.

“I thought Ryan (Vena) did a good job in the second half,” said Kirsch. “He didn’t make any bad decisions. He was on target.”

Newton had 11 receptions for a 160 yards, along with the four touchdowns.